Then we have supposedly planning something very similar, a ‘PlayStation 4.5’ with upgraded hardware that’s supposedly to be in development right now, according to a recent Kotaku report. Sony itself has yet to publicly comment at all.

But the overall message is clear: Somehow, some way, we are getting upgraded versions of current-gen consoles, without them being full “next-gen” consoles.

And yet, it’s hard to picture how exactly this would work from a cost perspective, a logistics perspective, or both.

When it was originally just Phil Spencer talking about this, he seemed to be hinting at modular, installable upgrades for the Xbox One, rather than an entirely new box. But after speculation ran wild about that, he walked back that idea, saying that he wasn’t going to ship new pieces “with a screwdriver set” to customers, laughing off the notion.

It would be kind of ridiculous to expect console purchasers to open up their units to install new parts themselves. Nor is it terribly plausible that would open up a mail-in service where you could send in your Xbox One and have a professional install a better GPU for $100 or something. Logistically, that would be goofy, but cost-wise, it’s somewhat appealing.

Photo: E3

More appealing logistically, but downright abhorrent cost-wise is the idea that Sony and Microsoft are simply going to release new boxes for $400 a pop that consumers will have to buy if they want the “upgraded” version for the second half of the console generation.

This becomes a serious problem if suddenly Sony and Microsoft are developing games that are “better” on these new systems, either visually or otherwise, as early adopters (ie. the 60+ million people who bought a console in the first three years since launch) will be left thinking they have an inferior product. And that’s exactly what they’ll have.

I’ve heard this console-replacement idea described as the “iPhone model,” which has worked wonders for , but would be a very, very hard sell in the console space, given that consumers have been used to 5-8 year console generations since pretty much the dawn of time. Asking consumers to buy an entirely new box every 2-3 years is going to be a bridge too far for many, and it will upset those who bought the millions who bought a new-gen system thinking they were set for this generation. This is not just a slimmer, quieter console, as we often see released mid-generation. This is something that will directly affect the games it plays, which is something else altogether.

Some have suggested a middleground where existing console owners would get a steep discount by trading in their old system for an upgraded one, but I don’t see how that would end up making much business sense for Microsoft or Sony, as they get their own outdated tech back, and in return give away a $400 system for say, half-price. That may be a good “consumer compromise,” but I doubt it would work very well from a financial perspective for either company.

Photo: Sony

Those are really all the options anyone is talking about, and none of them sound terribly appealing as someone who owns bought both an Xbox One and PS4 at launch, and doesn’t want to spend $800 to replace the pair.

The only thing that comes to mind as a potentially good idea would be reworking/rebranding of this entire concept. Instead of talking about “upgraded” PS4s and Xbox Ones, maybe wait a year on each, upgrade them even more, and release them as a fully next-gen system. The PS5, the Xbox Two, or what have you.

This would solve at least some of the perception problem of consumers feeling like they’re getting ripped off by buying the same console twice. And delaying it until maybe year four, instead of this upcoming fall (year three), would mean that the systems could be improved further, and potentially sold as “a quicker turnaround for a new console generation” rather than “rebuy your current system for a slightly better version.”

Unfortunately, the cat may be out of the bag at this point, and consumers would probably be upset regardless. Honestly, if Microsoft or Sony simply announced they were releasing an entirely new console generation in 2017 because “the pace of technology has accelerated” or something like that, it probably would have been better received than all these leaks and rumors and whispers about current-gen consoles being “upgraded” in ways that theoretically don’t make much economic or logical sense.

It’s hard to dive deeper into this until Microsoft finally says something concrete or Sony acknowledges that this is happening at all. But right now, it is hard to think of many plausible ways that this idea moves forward without millions of grumpy consumers feeling like they’re going to have to shell out an arm and a leg in order not to be left behind this console generation once these “upgrades” arrive.